Great Purge

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Great Purge
Date	During the Imperial Era
Outcome	Beskar obtained by the Galactic Empire Most Mandalorians killed
Affiliations involved	Galactic Empire Mandalorians
Participants	Gideon Bo-Katan Kryze

"This was gathered in the Great Purge."

―The Armorer, to Din Djarin on the beskar he obtained

The Great Purge was an event in which the Galactic Empire came into conflict with the Mandalorians. The event resulted in the Empire gathering beskar and most of the Mandalorian people being killed. The Purge forced surviving Mandalorian groups, like the Tribe, to operate in secrecy.

Prelude

"Once the Empire knew they couldn't control it, they made sure no one else could either."

―Din Djarin, referring to Mandalore

Following the Siege of Mandalore, a battle at the end of the Clone Wars which saw the renegade Sith Lord Maul deposed from his rule over Mandalore, the Galactic Empire—using the Republic Military forces still stationed on the planet— took control of Mandalore and launched a military occupation. However, when the appointed regent of Mandalore, Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, refused to obey Imperial rule, she lost her leadership position to Clan Saxon, with former Shadow Collective super commando Gar Saxon being installed as viceroy. The Empire ruled the population through fear and their occupying forces, made up of troops ranging from standard Imperial stormtroopers to Mandalorians loyal to the Empire known as Imperial Super Commandos.

Forces of the Imperial Military—joined by loyal Mandalorians known as Super Commandos—during the Empire's occupation of Mandalore

Thus, the Empire ruled Mandalore, its houses, and its warrior clans for years. Eventually, a student named Sabine Wren created a superweapon that targeted beskar known as the Arc Pulse Generator, which the Empire turned against the Mandalorian people. Horrified by what she had done, Wren spoke out against the Empire, though her family and clan, Clan Wren, sided with the regime. Before escaping Mandalore with her friend Ketsu Onyo, Wren destroyed her weapon, although the Empire eventually managed to build a copy with a limited range.

In 2 BBY, Imperial rule of Mandalore was threatened when Wren reclaimed the Darksaber, an ancient symbol of Mandalorian rule she stole from Maul in the abandoned Nightsister lair on Dathomir, and returned to her clan on Krownest. Though Saxon also arrived and attempted to take the blade for himself, Wren's mother, Ursa Wren, killed the viceroy to protect her daughter. Thus, Clan Saxon and Clan Wren began a civil war amongst the Mandalorian people. During a mission to Mandalore, Clan Wren united with Kryze and her clan. After they destroyed the copy of the Arc Pulse Generator developed by the Empire, which the replacement leader of Mandalore—Governor Tiber Saxon—had hoped to use against the population, various Mandalorian clans united to form a Mandalorian resistance against the Empire. Kryze accepted leadership of this resistance movement, and Wren gifted her the Darksaber.

The Purge

"These were cast in an Imperial smelter. These are the spoils of the Great Purge. The reason why we live hidden like sand rats."

―Paz Vizsla on Imperial-forged beskar

Bo-Katan Kryze, the ruler of Mandalore during the Great Purge

Realizing they would never be able to control Mandalore and wanting to make sure no other faction could, the Empire instead launched the so-called "Great Purge" against the Mandalorians. Kryze and her people attempted to fight the Imperial effort, but the purge nevertheless led to the near-total genocide of the Mandalorian people. At some point, Moff Gideon participated in the Purge and managed to acquire the Darksaber from Kryze. Some Mandalorians, including Kryze, survived the Purge and fled Mandalore, though they scattered across the galaxy.

As spoils of their victory, the Empire gathered Mandalorian beskar and cast the metal into Imperial ingots. The purge was what forced the Mandalorian group known as the Tribe to operate in secrecy, even after the fall of the Empire in 5 ABY. Members of the Tribe came to believe that Mandalore was a cursed world, fearing that anyone who traveled there would be killed.

Aftermath

"Our secrecy is our survival. Our survival is our strength."
"Our strength was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground one at a time. Our world was shattered by the Empire, with whom this coward shares tables."

―The Armorer and Paz Vizsla

Kryze continued to lead the Nite Owls, and together, with Axe Woves and Koska Reeves, went on missions with the intent of reclaiming Mandalore.

By circa 9 ABY, an Imperial remnant had quantities of beskar from the Great Purge, and used one piece as a down payment with the rest in a camtono for hiring the bounty hunter Din Djarin for a job. Djarin later brought the down payment of beskar to the Armorer of the Tribe, who stated that it was gathered in the Great Purge.

Years after the Great Purge, members of a Mandalorian tribe on Nevarro revealed themselves to protect Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and an infant named Grogu.

After Djarin completed the job and gave the bounty—an Force-sensitive infant named Grogu who was a member of a rare species—to the Imperial remnant, he was fully paid with the rest of the beskar. When Djarin brought the camtono of beskar back to the covert to give to the armorer, it captured the attention of the other Mandalorian warriors. There, Paz Vizsla confronted the Armorer and Djarin, and spoke about how the beskar was cast in an Imperial smelter, and reminisced about how the Great Purge was the reason the Tribe was operating in secrecy like sand rats. The Armorer countered that their secrecy was their survival and their strength, to which Vizsla said that their strength was once from their numbers, and now they were forced to go above ground one at a time. Vizsla then turned his attention to Djarin, and continued to say that the Empire shattered their world and that the he was in cooperation with them. Vizsla then attacked Djarin, although the confrontation was quickly defused by the Armorer.

While Djarin was on a mission to rescue a prisoner with a team of mercenaries, the Devaronian Burg questioned why he was part of the team, to which fellow mercenary Migs Mayfeld replied the Mandalorians were believed to be the strongest warriors in the galaxy. Burg then asked why they had all died.

Eventually, Djarin and Boba Fett attempted to recruit Kryze and her allies to help rescue a captured Grogu from Moff Gideon. To convince her to join him, Djarin informed Kryze that the Moff had a light cruiser that she could use in her fight to retake Mandalore. When Fett heard this, he expressed his disapproval, saying that the Empire "turned 'that planet' to glass". This upset Koska Reeves, who attacked Fett. The fight was quickly broken up by Kryze, who claimed that had they shown that kind of strength to the Empire, then they wouldn't have lost the planet in the first place.

Behind the scenes

The Great Purge was first mentioned in Chapter 1 of the 2019 Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, which aired on November 12, 2019.

Appearances

• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" (First mentioned)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 3: The Sin" (Mentioned only)
• The Mandalorian: Season 1: Volume 1 (Mentioned only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 6: The Prisoner" (Indirect mention only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 7: The Reckoning" (Indirect mention only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 8: Redemption" (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: The Mandalorian Junior Novel (Mentioned only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 11: The Heiress" (Mentioned only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 14: The Tragedy" (Mentioned only)
• The Mandalorian – "Chapter 16: The Rescue" (Indirect mention only)

Sources

• The Star Wars Book
• "Jedi Master's Quiz"—Star Wars Insider 198
• "A Certain Point of View"—Star Wars Insider 202
• Star Wars: The Mandalorian: Guide to Season One
•  "Din Djarin and Other Bounty Hunters and Criminals" – Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Sixth Scale Figures (Pack: Bo-Katan Kryze) (backup link)

Notes and references

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